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June 05, 2017

Author: Latino immigrants saved 'a dying city'

June 4, 2017By Keith Eddings

The waves of Latino immigrants that arrived here in the last half of the 20th century saved “a dying city” from abandonment by stabilizing its population as whites fled the decay for the suburbs, an American studies professor at the State University of New York argues in a recently published book, "Latino City: Immigration and Urban Crisis in Lawrence, Massachusetts, 1945-2000.”

Professor Llana Barber blames "the evisceration of Lawrence's economy" on the disinvestment and de-industrialization that occurred in cities nationwide in the decades after World War II, and on the growth of outlying suburbs that was hastened by the construction of the interstate highway system and other social forces.

White residents "believed, mistakenly, that Lawrence was in a state of crisis because Latinos had brought poverty, blight and other 'urban problems' to the small city," Barber says in her book. "This effort to pin the effects of economic restructuring on a racialized scapegoat manifested in intense anti-Latino prejudice, discrimination and even violence, as was evident in the 1984 riots."

Barber begins her book with a description of the riots, and later in the book devotes an entire chapter to them. She says the violent clash of cultures was a turning point for Lawrence that brought international attention as whites attempted to reaffirm their place in the city and Latinos protested prejudice and powerlessness, with the city's economic decline as a backdrop to it all.

The decline of the former industrial giant continued after the riots. Whites continued to leave for the Andovers, Haverhill, Methuen and other surrounding suburbs. Latino immigrants continued arriving to take their place, mostly from the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, which Barber calls “the fruit of the long history of U.S. military and economic intervention” in Latin America.

The city's Latino population tripled in the 1980s. By the 2000 census, Lawrence was the first Latino majority city in New England. Today, 75 percent of the city's 80,000 residents are Latino and Spanish is the primary language in most homes.

Barber writes that the Latinos kept coming even as they met challenges other waves of immigrants to the city did not. The challenges included the declining number of jobs and the shrinking tax base as the mills closed, and the racial hostility that kept those who were able to prosper from moving to the suburbs, where housing “was largely off limits to working class Latinos,” Barber writes.

“The suburbs were flourishing and the city was in a state of profound crisis,” Barber writes. “Suburban residents drove in a wide arc around Lawrence to avoid traveling through it; some even talked about demolishing the city and starting over.”

Without equivocating, Barber credits Latinos for facing down the obstacles and rescuing Lawrence in the face of intense resistance by a city that gave back mostly hardship.

“Latinos were responsible for reversing the city's population decline; for filling its abandoned homes and buildings; for bringing life to its streets; churches, restaurants and parks; and for anchoring its tax base,” she writes. “There can be no doubt that Latino migration was good for the city of Lawrence. Yet what remains debatable is how good the city of Lawrence was for Latinos. Imperial migrants drawn to the American Dream found instead an urban nightmare of bigotry, segregation, unemployment, poverty wages, arson, crime and failing schools.”

She argues that the 1984 riots turned the page for Latinos in Lawrence by helping “solidify a relationship between Latino activists and the federal government.” The partnership resulted in a voting rights lawsuit in 1999 that gradually began transferring power at City Hall. In 2009, William Lantigua became the first Latino elected mayor of a Massachusetts city. Today, seven of the nine seats on the City Council are held by Latinos.

The progress has been uneven, Barber writes. Other downturns occurred, including the fires of the 1990s that gave the city a reputation of the arson capital of New England, and the city's massive reliance on state aid as the tax base shrank. That dependency continues. Today, 95 percent of budget for Lawrence public schools comes from the state. The city school system in 2010 was the first in Massachusetts to be entirely taken over by the state, and the state remains in charge. At City Hall, the state has veto power over spending.

Barber gives a nod to several Lawrence residents, including Isabel Melendez, who helped lead the Caribbean migration to Lawrence when she arrived from Puerto Rico in 1959 and has been an advocate for the community since. Today, Melendez runs her own social service programs out of the former General Donovan School, where she distributes clothing and furniture to the poor and offers classes in English and citizenship to immigrants. She ran for mayor in 2009, unsuccessfully.

Barber said Lawrence's recent history is a story worth telling because it's played out in former mill cities across the United States.

She writes that her book “is not just a parochial study of a faded, obscure mill town; the forces that transformed Lawrence impacted cities across the nation.... In stark and vivid detail, this small city's history allows us to see the connections between several of the most important transformations of the late 20th century.”

Barber will discuss her book at the Lawrence Public Library on Sunday, June 11, beginning at 2 p.m. The event is free and open to the public and is sponsored by the library, the Lawrence History Center and the Lawrence Heritage State Park.

Professor Llana Barber will discuss her recent book, "Latino City: Immigration and Urban Crisis in Lawrence, Massachusetts, 1945-2000” at the Lawrence Public Library on June 11 beginning at 2 p.m. The event is free and open to the public and is sponsored by the library, the Lawrence History Center and the Lawrence Heritage State Park.

1 Comment

Excellent article. I find it parallels some of the conclusions of "City of Dreams", a new book about New York City immigration since colonial times.
What I would like to know is what economic activities were developed by the new Latino immigrants to Lawrence, that are allowing it to get back on its economic feet.